Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Torn

I am so torn. I hate that I even have to write about this, but in one way it's getting my thoughts and feelings out, and in another way it's to inform you of something I discovered this past week.

One of my friends sent me a message a few days ago. In short it said, "I feel you should know that Susan G. Komen gives money to Planned Parenthood."

Gasp.

I'm sure you know that Planned Parenthood is the #1 provider of abortions in our country (even the word provider in that sentence sounds wrong to me).

At first I went on the defensive. Big time. I told her that in 2008, when I first decided to do the race, I had heard that SGK gave money to PP. Upon investigation, I was told that the St. Louis affiliate did not give money to PP, but that even the national organization that does give to PP closely monitors the money for women's health, breast screenings, etc. For some reason, that information worked for me, I justified it in my head, and went ahead and supported SGK.

After telling her this, she sent me another message that said, "A friend of mine called the STL affiliate this morning and they confirmed that they do, in fact, give to PP. And even if the money is earmarked for specific screenings, it frees up their other funds for abortions."

I tried to digest this information as best I could. I told myself that it was brave of Marie to tell me this, and I needed to just do some soul searching and figure out where I stood as far as supporting SGK.

Ironically just yesterday, MckMama'sfacebook page was full of comments as she declared that she would pull the Susan G. Komen ads off of her blog because of their support for Planned Parenthood. The comments ranged from totally supporting her to being totally appalled. The one comment that stood out to me the most, however, had to do with a HUGE list of organizations that also give money to Planned Parenthood. Are you sitting down? Here goes:

Charitable organizations associated with Planned Parenthood:

Audubon Society

Alzheimer's Association

American Association of Retired Persons

American Automobile Association (AAA)

American Cancer Society

American Diabetes Association

Amnesty International

Camp Fire Girls

Council of Churches (including Church World Service, and CROP Hunger Walks)

So here's where I'm torn...even the American Cancer Society gives money to Planned Parenthood. How could we all just stop giving and stop funding an organization like this when we so badly need to learn so much more about cancer? All four of my grandparents had cancer - 3 out of 4 have passed away because of it. One of my aunts is a breast cancer survivor; she is so dear to me and I remember how that effected her and her family. I was beyond proud to walk with her last year at the SGK Race. I was hoping it would be something I could do every year with her. What do I do now that I know SGK gives money to an organization that I feel I can't support?

Can I now not even buy Girl Scout cookies? Should I cancel my AAA card?

Do you participate in Relay for Life? Your money goes to PP, too. Do you participate in the March of Dimes? Your money goes to PP, too. I could go on and on.If these companies are really interested in women's health, why can't they support local clinics that are not abortion providing facilities? Do they really have to give money to the #1 provider of abortions?

Oh my gosh- now I am going to think about this all day!!!Good for you for bringing it up, but it is so hard.I really think the only thing one can do in a situation like this is to pray and wait for an answer from the Lord.I understand This Daddy's point, but the killing of our babies is a huge problem in our country and just can't be seperated that easily.

God is good though and He will prevail.Thanks for sharing this- I hope you don't mind, but I will post about this and link it back to your blog.

My feelings about why are they donating to other organizations in the first place when really people are giving them money to fight a disease with research and not to be charitable are the same as yours.

I don't do enough to support local women's shelters or health clinics.

Here's another thing... last year I helped a student get info about the PP in our town and call to make an appointment because she was scared about abnormal breast tissue and wouldn't tell her mother because her mother was crazy. She needed confidentiality and anonymity. I felt like I was doing the right thing for her health. She had a benign tumor!

I think that it's got to be almost impossible to donate to an organization you agree with 100%. Prior to giving money we make sure that we agree (as much as possible) with the group's actions/philosophy/management. Once the money is donated we make sure we let it go and know that it's out of our hands.

I agree with many of the previous comments, and want to share my own 2 cents! PP does have it purpose. I don't agree with abortions either, but shouldn't a person considering an abortion know ALL the options rather than being informed their decision is morally wrong? I feel, as a Christian, we should do our best to support those in need and encourage those in need to gather enough information as possible before making their decision. Hopefully, their decision is LIFE in the end.

Ultimately, praying, they make the right choice and then supporting them no matter what-without judgment. It is not our job to judge. Donating time, money, and items to these companies is the right thing to do, we don't tell them where to spend the money, we do it knowing they're spending it on research, aid, education, support, etc.

I don't think you should beat yourself up too much. I think you are doing the right thing by questioning it, but ultimately you have to ask yourself, are you going to stop supporting organizations that have done wonderful things for others simply because you don't agree with who or what they support?

Gosh, Chrissy, I can understand how you would be torn. And everyone else has made such good comments already, that I don't want to repeat what's already been said.

That being said, here are my feelings on PP. I do not support abortion. As someone who has had an unplanned pregnancy, I know there are other, much preferable options. However, PP does so much more than abortions, like Mrs. Haid stated for example. And for those that, unfortunately, feel like abortion is their only option, they can turn to PP, which is safe, rather than a boyfriend's abusive hand or an "unfortunate accident." We would all love for the women that seek PP for only abortive reasons would have a change of heart. But for some of these women, they have no support system, they don't have any friends like we would to lean on, and b/c of that they will get an abortion somewhere. It doesn't mean I support PP's mission, but I do support women's health and safety.

So I guess that while it bothers me to some degree that the agencies you mentioned aren't using our money exactly as I thought they were, it isn't a deal breaker for me that some of it is going to PP.

Yes, Chrissy to your comment. I knew that because I have my privacy setting to friends of friends. So if you are a friend of one of my friends then you have access to my photos. Most of my albums however, are set to only friends. I'm not too worried about it though.

But I agree with some of the previous comments that if you give with the right intentions, you're doing the right thing.

Companies are so inter connected these days that it's impossible, in my opinion, to figure out where it all goes and if we looked at every one of them in depth I'd bet that we wouldn't support any, no matter your beliefs.

All you can do is to give to who you want with the right heart and it will be honored.

WOW, that is a long list of agencies that should be keeping the money for what people are giving it for! And "Save the Children??" REALLY!? How ironic--what about those unborn children? It is practically impossible to keep straight who supports what, where to shop-where not to shop, where to eat-where not to eat.

WOW!..and UGH! That is a huge list! I was thinking the same thing about AAA while I was reading your post. I'll be talking to the Mr. about this and then be praying about what to change/not change. Thanks for posting this.

There is solid evidence that abortions can actually CAUSE breast cancer. How does the SBK Foundation justify trying to fight breast cancer and giving to an organization that is causing it's increase? This is more of a problem to me.

You know, if these organizations can give ...then they must not need all of the money they are getting. When you give to a cancer organization it should only go to that organization....Are they just trading dollars? With our money? Everyone on here has a favorite to give to or should I say a cause...I wonder what your Aunt Cathy would say on this? We do need to watch where our money goes..Satan is GREAT at all the angles and always tries to slip in where he can....Thank you Chrissy for sharing..please keep sharing!!!

Personally I don't think we should "lovingly" share with a woman who is pregnant ALL her options! Abortion should not EVER come up as a possible option for an unplanned pregnancy.. EVER... if we are christians we stand up for truth. We can't look in someone's eyes and say "it's ok... if an abortion is what you need then i'll help you make the call!"

on the other note of this information, Chrissy i see what your struggle is... it's getting harder and harder to see God's black and white lines in this world and far too many christians are allowing the grey to filter in.

My suggestion is to do searches and find if there are any christian orginizations fighting cancer that use all the money for cancer research and support that.

I will also do some praying, because this opens up the discussion of a lot of other things that we as christians "support".

Also I know it seems like when you give you are giving to the "greater good" but God's in control, and we need to trust in him. Trust him through cancer, and everything else. I just couldn't in good conscience continue to give to an orginization that I know supports abortions.

Yes we need to fight cancer, but we need to fight God's way, and I don't feel that supporting abortion is in a way that he would choose to have us fight.

Yes it's overwhelming to look at that list, but if you don't support those orginzations what's going to happen? Will your life dramatically change? ... probaly not... but maybe.. just maybe.. if the christians in the world stepped up and stopped giving to thse people who support abortions... maybe they would see it... and stop doing it... and get back to fighting what they should be fighting......

I am sure that their are a lot of things that we don't agree with and support without our knowledge - when we buy groceries, pay our electric bills, etc. My mother (at 50 yrs), my grandfather (at 90 yrs) and my son at (10 yrs) all died of cancer. My grandfather chose no treatment due to his age, my mother and my son both died from the cancer treatments - not the cancer itself. I choose not to support the Susan G. Komen foundation, relay for life, or any of these organizations. I prefer to give my money, time, and talents locally to help in whatever way I can. My mother had breast cancer so it is not that I am against SGK or anything, but when they start campaigning in September (which is National Childhood Cancer Awareness month), I get a little upset with them. Why do they have to steal the awareness time from the children? Probably to gain more funds to distribute where they want. That is just my opinion. Chili's restaurant devotes one day's profits in September to St. Jude's children hospital plus they allow you to donate money all month long for research. If more people would stop funding these big Non-profits maybe they would listen. If they don't get the funds from the people, how are they going to give to places like Planned Parenthood? Just my two cents and I know it ain't worth much ;)

Such a hot topic! :-) My big sis and I have this dream of unifying all the smaller pro-life women's health/crisis pregnancy clinics in the US into a unified movement similar to PP only without the abortion support. It's so easy for people to give to a huge, well known organization like PP in an effort to help women and just be sad about the bad that comes along with it. I think the pro-life movement has failed by not forming an organization equal to PP. It allows PP to almost monopolize the market.

It's so sad that the whole experience will be a little ruined for you now- ignorance is bliss sometimes! When you have the truth, the difficulty starts...

March of dimes doesn't use the money like it says it does either. Lots of organizations don't. Frankly, after having a disabled child I could see both sides of the coin. I am pro choice because of our experience. As a mom who can't carry her children to term I can't imagine being forced to keep a large multiple pregnancy to watch all my children die. I would rther have a place that allows selective reduction or even abortion if that meant I brought home a healthy kid.

PS the presets that Mcmamma is giving away is not owned by adobe. So she isn't giving away adobe products.

No she is giving away pretty presets a COLLECTION of presets FOR an adobe product but is NOT an adobe product. it is a seperate small company that MADE the preset. She isn't giving away LIGHTROOM or Photoshop. She is giving the preset away

That's a really tough one that I've struggled with. On one hand, I admire the idea of having a godly ethic of how I spend my money. It's just as much a part of being a good steward as the act of giving itself in my opinion. It sounds like that is what you are struggling with also and I sympathize. In this instance, it would be really difficult for me to think that my $ was supporting Planned Parenthood (although lists like yours go to show that some small percentage of my money probably and unknowingly is). Even if they do some other good things, it would be too tough for me to overlook this one really not good thing that they do.

On the other hand, boycotting certain organizations makes me a little uncomfortable also. For instance, a lot of Christians boycotted Ford because the American Family Association recommended it due to Ford's support of the homosexual moment. For argument's sake, let's assume that boycott is successful. Ford did in fact lose lots of money and cut a lot of jobs (I'm not saying it was because of the boycott, but for argument's sake let's assume it was). Did the CEO's who made those decisions that led to the boycott suffer for the loss of business? No they did not. Instead, they gave themselves huge raises. It was some poor Dick or Jane on the assembly line that lost their job. I would hate to think that some of those Dick's or Jane's would see an article from the American Family Association "boasting" about how they are responsible for the loss of their job (And the AFA did take credit for that). It just doesn't seem like that particular boycott is the best way to win the hearts and minds of the people in this world. That being said, I'm not sure what is the best way. I think it's a tough one and a real ethical dilemma that I struggle with.

I'd really be interested to know what it means by "support." It seems kind of odd that charitable organizations are cutting checks to one another left and right. Really? Do they all have a surplus of money that they can go giving it away to other groups? That seems kind of odd.

Thank you for posting this list and enlightening your readers. It's good to know what is going on in the world, even if we don't want to be a part of the world. I considered abortion 20 years ago, and I didn't go through with it. I went to a Planned Parenthood location and was appalled at how many young women were there. It made me sick. I knew I couldn't do it.I now have a beautiful 19 year old daughter who is the angel of my life. So I don't know if I can support a company (private or public) that gives money to places that offer abortions. It's morally wrong.That's for me.Other people have other experiences and needs and the questions related to the American Cancer Society etc., are difficult to understand, but it has to be a personal moral choice nonetheless.

Thanks for posting this. It is such a difficult subject. I've been so annoyed with Girl Scouts because I found out about this about 7 years ago with them. How do you pull your very active girls out of girl scouts? I pretty much decided at that point to not give any money to any large group unless it was a group affiliated with my church. We give support to our local food pantry, animal shelters, etc.We can't change large organization but we can control where we send our money.So I'm your newest blog follower thanks to the Friday Blog hop!!! Stop in and say HI to me at

Chrissy,Thank you for exposing this information about PP supporters. PP is in the business of making money and ABORTION is their big business. Period. I knew about most of the organizations you listed, and the companies. The PRC of Rolla sends out a newsletter and they usually have companies listed who donate to PP and also those who have stopped donating after being asked to do so. Amy H.